-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com it's 10:00 p.m. in tokyo. welcome to "newsline." i'm michio kijima with the news at this hour. prime minister noda's cabinet got down to business on monday, three days after his inauguration. in the morning, noda met top bureaucrats from government ministries and agencies at his office. they're to brief him on key issues, including the status of japan's nuclear power plants and the plans for the prime minister's meeting with u.s. president barack obama later this month. in the afternoon, noda and his

ministers attended a cabinet meeting to finalize the appointment of senior vice minister, parliamentary secretaries and advisers to the prime minister. chief cabinet secretary fujimura asked. >> translator: i hope to act as noda's right-hand man. i want to carry forward this country's politics and support the prime minister. >> noda plans to visit fukushima and other prefectures hit by the march 11th earthquake and tsunami where he will pledge to make every effort to help put them back on their feet. the government aims to submit a third supplementary budget for fiscal year 2011 for the diet as early as mitt october to finance reconstruction and measures against the yen's appreciation.

japan's new health minister says she wants the toe a bako tax to be raised to encourage more people to quit smoking. >> translator: surveys show that 80% to 90% of smokers want to quit. to give them a reason to do so, many people advocate tobacco tax hikes and other data shows they won't fall until prices get to around $9 per pack. >> komiyama said on monday she has called on the government to raise the price of cigarettes by 100 yen or about $1.3 every year. she added that she wanted the price raised to at least $9. major cigarette maker japan tobacco says about 24% of adults in japan smoked in 20010. cigarette prices were raised because the government raised the tax.

most sell for $5 per pack. critics point out the prices are still below aefr from those in new york and in london japan's new economy trade and industry minister reported to work on monday morning following inauguration of the new can net. his prez saider handed over the baton in the minister's chamber, wishing him luck on what is sure to be a demanding assignment. after signing the transition document, he expressed enthusiasm for his new post. >> translator: i hope to meet people's expectations over containment of the nuclear plant crisis. this is my biggest task. >> other pressing challenges include drafting the nation's basic energy plans and coping with the strong yen. on the same day he took over

duties as the economic and fiscal policy minister for the outgoing minister. besides working on the yen's continued strength he'll need to hammer out a bill on a come pre mensive reform and taxes. the legislation would likely increase the consumption tax, 5% at present to 10% by the mid-2010s. in the tough and sometimes nationalist tick world of car-making, it used to be very rare for a u.s. auto giants to grant supplies to japanese manufacturers, but now japanese makers have become an essential part of u.s. local economies. nhk world's otah looks at what lies behind the increase in confidence. >> translator: detroit is the u.s. center of the automobile center. the city has long been a symbol of america's car industry.

in the 1980s, the u.s. was denouncing japan saying the bigger exports were wrecking the u.s. car industry. but these days the u.s. has high confidence in japanese auto manufacturers. on this day a japanese maker received an award from the local government for committing to train u.s. workers in production. >> they've only just started and they're making a wonderful contribution to our community. >> reporter: what lies behind the growth in confidence is japan's companies mek tick lus effort to meet the needs. this factory produces assembly lines for car and track tors. years ago it received few orders due to anti-japanese sentiment.

despite the circumstances, the company tried to accommodate the needs of u.s. businesses by make ing proposals. for example, at the streamlined assembly processes and made for more space. now the companies are supplying door lines to all lines of general motors. >> translator: they provide a thundershower o'education to its u.s. employees. this factory has a special section to instruct workers based on the belief that people should be trained fast to

produce something good the company passes on all its expertise to its employees. much different company here. >> reporter: they demonstrated the supplier making it impossible to procure the pass necessary for making it. to manage the problem, the company's employees made their rounds of their u.s. clients every day to explain the situation. >> translator: we strongly felt we had to do all we could to

meet our clients' expectations. we didn't want to disrupt their output due to the problem in our supply chain. >> as devastating as everything was, how accurate the communication, i say, you know, perchly over some markets the relationship is stronger. we went through a lot. >> translator: the thriving economy may have zapped some some of japan's, but japan's promise of sincerity and meticulousness remains their strength in the competitive heart of u.s. energy. nhk world, detroit. here are the latest market figures.

the remnants of typhoon talas are swirling over the sea of japan. the storm caused major damage in the western part of this country, dumping record amount s of rain that triggered flooding and mudslides. at least 31 people have died and 55 remain missing. one man was found dead in a submerged car and another in a flooded house in the town of nachi-katsuura. nine people have been confirmed dead there and 19 missing.

police say 18 dead in wakayama prefecture and 34 have disappeared. in nada prefecture four are confirmed dead and 20 missing. a mud slide killed a woman in her 60s in the city of gojo. floods swept away houses and left ten missing. more than 100 injuries have been reported in 20 prefectures across japan. nhk has found that many of the 86 people who died or disappeared were at home. nhk was able to find out what happened to 64 of them. 43 people or nearly 70% were inside their home when it was buried in a mud slide or swept away by a flood. the remaining 21 were outside checking on damage or in the process of evacuating. the city of nigata on japan's coast has assigned hotels as emergency shelters in the event of a tsunami. the city situated in a low-lying area was inundated in 1964 when

a tsunami was triggered be i a major earthquake in the region. there was a concluded agreement with the five hotels on monday. it calls for the hotels to accept up to 4,000 evacuees when a tsunami warning is issued. >> translator: i hope that the designation will raise evacuation awareness. i also want to sign more agreements with offices and apartments. >> the city plans to strengthen its preparedness for tsunami by designating more hotels, company buildings and condominium as evacuation centers. >> china says it plans to send a trade delegation to help its recovery. china disclosed a plan when japanese business leaders met officials of the company's ministry on monday. the japanese team representing the japan/china economic

association included the chairman of the japan business association. the vice commerce minister said a business delegation of chinese firms will aseventy japan's reconstruction everies through purchases of goods made in the disaster-hit areas. cho told officials that the chinese/japanese economy is expected to expand around 2% in the next fiscal year. >> translator: since the march disaster, japan has been trying to revitalize its economy. we want to discuss a new style of cooperation with china. >> the japanese side also requested china's cooperation in concluding free trade agreementings among china, south korea, and japan. the chinese officials responded by saying that their country is ready to begin official fta talks. a temporary fish market built in preparation for the

autumn fishing season saw its first tuna auction on monday morning near tokyo. the original facility was damaged in the march 11th disaster. auctions were held in a building located about 200 meters away from the original market which sustained heavy damage in march. the local fishing property has held auctions at two other markets since the disaster. they decided to build their own structure before the start of the autumn fishing season which is associated with large catches. >> translator: we're glad to have a new place for auctions. we want to sell as many fish as possible. in the u.s. president barack obama has visited a city in the state of new jersey that was hard hit by hurricane irene late

last month. the massive storm devastated the areas along the u.s. east coast as it traveled north. at least 20 people were kill and some areas are still without power. on sunday, obama traveled to the city of pair ison where about 3,500 people remain unable to return to their homes. he toured housing districts full of debris and spoke to residents affected by the disaster. >> the entire country is behind you, and we're going to make sure that we provide all the resources that are necessary in order to help these communities rebuild. >> obama has been quick in responding to hurricane irene by keeping in close contact with the governments of the affected states. in 2005 then president george w. bush was criticized for his administration's slow response to hurricane katrina. there's new hope for endangered species. researchers in the united states

have produced artificial embr embryonic stem cells that could be used to bring animals back from beyond the brink of extension. stem cells have the potential to develop into other kinds of body tissue and organs. researchers at the scripps research institute in california are the first to produce them from endangered species. they announced their method. s one is the northern white rhino of which only seven are left in the world. the researchers injected four types of genes into skin cells to create the ips cells. they did the same with skin cells from an endangered species of monkey called the silver-maned drill. the researchers hope it will eventually allow the endangering species to be bred art fish ll jie time to check on stories we've gathered around asia. we begin tonight with this item set by mcot thailand.

inmates have taken over part of a prison in southern thai province. the riot which broke out on monday has led to the death of one inmate while two others have been injured. the uprising was apparently instigated by 50 muslim inmates angered by what they described as poor living conditions and unfair treatment meted out by buddhist. about 300 police officers have been deployed. twin panda cubs were feated in a traditional celebration as they turned 1-month old. fans of jan and chow chow dwakterred at schan due giant

pandaer er. and meade breeding base. children sang to mark the occasion. a breeding center official meanwhile hailed the event as a sign of the facility's success over 24 years since it was founded. ahead of a fifa-friendly match between nigeria and argentina on tuesday. the soccer event is the biggest in the south asian nation's history. on sunday police units held a drill to assess it to deal with any event yult. the police set in place a three-tiered security system for players and began patrolling the national stadium, the match venue. hello, sports fans. please keep cheering for me.

>> how can you say no to a guy like that? the september grand sumo tournament opens in less than a week, and depending how he does, 26-year-old kaka ru may be the sport's next ozeki. kaka ruiz strength is. he's won the technique prize six times. a powerful thrust, check. got that? keeping up the pressure in a grip position, check. got that too? and you can check off perfectly timed that as well. he needs all that technique because at 145 kilograms he's one of the smaller guys in the ring. in the july tournament, though, he defeated two much lavender ozeki to finish with ten wins.

>> translator: in july you got more wins than losses for the first time. >> i think i have the right frame of mind. i told myself not to think about needless things. during the bouts i just try to remember what i did wrong in the past and focus on not making the same mistakes. in nigh three previous circumstances as a seeky wa kay, i had more losses than wins. i think the frustration and regret i felt as well as the lessons i learned from the losses spurred me on to do well. >> kakaru connected to a letter he wrote while in high school. his friend translated for him into japan. the let err was sent to a push liver of a sumo magazine. it was then forwarded to the japan sumo association. kakaru was enthralled by tv broadcasters of sumo and wanted to become a rush sheky himself. >> do you remember this?

>> translator: yes, i do. >> translator: what were you thinking when you wrote the letter? >> reporter: when i saw sumo on tv as a child, i knew it was something i wanted to do. in the letter i said i weigh 78 kilograms, but really it was only 72. city wanted to become a ditch chi so much that i tried to appear bigger. >> reporter: in 2001, a lit over six months after writing the letter the young man from mongolia passed the physical test to become a rush eeky, and now ten years after his debut, he's close to being promomented to ozeki, the second highest rank. his stable master thinks kakaru has what it takes to make the grade and more. >> translator: his sumo is steady.

i think promotion is within reach if he can make more use of his leg in thrusting against an opponent while grabbing the belt or slapping. >> reporter: the minimum requirement for promotion to ozeki is 33 wins over three consecutive tournaments. kakaru needs to win at least 11 bouts in september to measure up. he'd like to put an exclamation point on it too. that would help him by defeating this gentleman who's also from mongolia. kakaru has failed tack a hoe in 18 bouts but has always come up short. >> translator: i managed to put up a good fight against hack a ho but i never seem to win so i suppose i'm still not quite where i need to be. >> translator: how do you intend to defeat him? >> translator: each time i think

hard about what i have to do to win. i'll just keep at it. >> translator: september could be big for you. >> translator: i'll train hard and do what i have to do before the tournament starts. once it's under way i'll try to concentrate one bout at a time so i finish with more than ten win. >> translator: good luck working toward promotion. >> translator: thank you. i'll do my best. >> that tournament starts on sunday at tokyo's. that's our sports report for today. hi, there, and welcome back. let's take a look at your weather forecast. still talking about the remnant low of ta las, which is going to be affecting northern japan. what it has been doing, western and eastern japan has seen torrential amounts of rainfall. this is the storm total, so this is up to about 1,809

millimeters. over 1600 in the mie prefecture and whack a yamma, over 1,100. this is coming up from shingu, waka wakayama. there are reports of flash flooding, landslides, and mud slides. people are helping out down there but more than 30 people have died from these storm-related damages and about 60 people are still missing so police didn't agents as well as the law enforcement are searching for your the disappeared. if we can pull back into the fixture, we have another storm that's developed over the pacific. this is tropical storm nor, which is traveling along the pacific ocean, parallel to mainland japan. as of now it's not affecting

land. it's sandwiching the rem and in of talas. it will bring amle amounts of moisture and therefore rain to come in hokkaido. if we can take a look at this video coming out from shimizu, hokkaido. the remnants are bringing torrential rainfall already. jma held a press conference for residents in hokkaido to prepare the residents. the land is already saturated from previous flooding. they're all at very high risk. now in hokkaido as we pull back here, you will see that in the next 24 hours the rain band will be moving through in and around ha pore rah and into southwestern russia as well. we may see 400 millimeters in some area of hokkaido.

we've had an accumulation of 200 millimeters in southwestern hokkaido so the land is very, very saturated. we're very, very worried and being cautious about these high risks of flooding and landslides and mud slides. chongqing still heating up sat 38. tomorrow we'll be looking at very hot temperatures there, too, but the rain band in central china that will be lingering and bridging that temperature down finally into your wednesday. here in north america let's talk about the hurricane katia. we see the eye. it is not affecting land mass yet we really do want to keep you updated with the progress though. we know that this low pressure system over louisiana and mississippi, just over the borderline there is going to be bringing severe weather for your monday and toward tuesday just along the atlantic coast is where we're going to be seeing severe thunderstorms, at times, hail and heavy rain, even as

well as strong gusts. maybe even some tornados cannot still be ruled out just along the storm and the cold front that is passing through. but central portions south and much of the west, we're looking at very calm weather for you. and the temperatures have cooled down, but still houston heating up to 32 degrees. here in europe, well, we've got a low pressure system that is veryive and associated front just along this. we might see some severe weather to come. gusts may go up to about 16 kilometers per hour, and we may see some showers that will build up to 40 millimeters in an hour. a low pressure system. this would be bringing widespread showers as well as windy conditions. on-and-off showers will unfortunately continue in the british isles for the next several days, but here in central out toward the iberian peninsula looking at calmer weather there. kiev at 23 degrees, madrid at 30

and rome at 28 degrees. here's your extended forecast.

that's our broadcast of "newsline." we'll be whack back in half an hour. i'm michio kijima in tokyo. thank you for watching. b bye-bye. .